This Labor Day weekend is summer’s last hurrah for those of us in Minnesota (more on that in a minute). I’m just back from a fantastic camping trip, and as always, we did our flatbread in a cast-iron or other heavy skillet, right on the camping stove (I’ve always used the Coleman). You can use any lean dough, either from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, or from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Your skillet must have a cover, but that’s about all the equipment you’ll need. This is pretty similar to the naan we do in Artisan Bread, and at this link here on the website.

We Minnesotans pride ourselves on taking winter in stride. The other thing we seem to have pride in is the shape of our state– it seems to work its way into road signs and even macaroni and cheese pasta shapes. So with great delight, I reveal to you: grilled bread in THE SHAPE OF MINNESOTA:

OK, it was an accident. My wife claims that this does not really resemble the state:

Well, use a little poetic license, especially for the Arrowhead region?Other posts on grilled or summer breads are at:

Baked the whole wheat maple oatmeal loaf of bread today and it smells wonderful, but has a sharp almost vinegary taste. what could I have done wrong? I used freshly ground white wheat berries as the flour

Diane: I’m guessing that it has something to do with the fresh-ground flour you used, which isn’t a standard product. Try it again with a commercial product and see if that solves the problem. See my post on fresh-ground flour too, at http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1165

Also, how long did the dough age before using it? We develop a sourdough character as the dough ages. One thing to try might be less yeast, see the FAQ above (“Yeast, can it be decreased in our recipes?”)

hi there! i chanced upon your bread making method and am very intrigued by it, wanna give it a try! i bought unbleached all purpose flour which is”pre-sifted”. if i use this for the master recipe, do i need to change the amount of flour needed?

Jeff, thank you for your recent comment on our blog! Our B&B guests are so impressed by fresh bread on the table everyday, and we’d never manage that without your time saving tips, so we’re very grateful for the books. Thanks also for the links on this site – our next aim is to go organic, so we could try ordering King Arthur’s online (it’s sometimes difficult to source in the quantities we want).
One question – is there a (?European) edition of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day that has weight equivalents to the cup measures? Or would you include it in the next edition? We’re making 2 batches every couple of days in the peak season, and pouring the ingredients into a bowl on a weighing scale which can be reset is just that bit more time-saving for us.
Thanks again both of you for so many great recipes….

Many people have mentioned that they prefer not to use plastic. There are many alternatives that work, I’ve even used a large lidded pot, a glass jar meant for holding flour and ceramic bowls. We have been trying to source a bucket that is as convenient as the cambro, but is BPA free. Once we find something we like we’ll report here.

I just got your book “Healthy Bread…” in the mail on Friday and have baked two loaves already. I love it!! I do have a question. I am using the 100% wheat dough recipe. My dough seems to stop rising and flattens out at about 1.5 hours instead of 2. Should I put it in the fridge at 1.5 or wait until 2 hours?

To the person concerned about BPA… I use a big ceramic bowl and cover it with a free “hotel” shower cap (clean of course)….it works great…as I use up the dough I downsize the bowls..but keep using the shower cap to cover. I wash and use through many batches before needing to replace!!

I usually try to bake more than one loaf of bread at a time when I’m making bread (I live in Phoenix, Arizona, so I try to decrease the amount of time I have the oven on), but I can’t find anywhere in your book information on baking more than one loaf at a time. Could you give me information about baking multiple loaves?

I have another question. I mentioned that I live in Phoenix, Arizona in my previous question and my question has to do with the climate here.

When I did the master recipe, it worked great! But when I tried to do the 100% whole wheat with honey, I ended up with flat, dense bread. This happened to me with another recipe (not one of yours) that worked perfectly in a more humid state, that was about 700ft. above sea level. (Phoenix is around 1100 ft. above sea level, although I can’t imagine that 400 ft. could make such a huge difference in how my bread turns out. Am I wrong?)

Do I need to make some adjustments to account for the dry, hot climate I live in? Even though I have AC, my kitchen is usually around 85 degrees and, except from late June to early September, we have no humidity (very dry here).

The altitude in Phoenix is not an issue, only after 4000ft do we see a problem in baking with yeast.

The issue may be the heat in the kitchen, which will cause your dough to rise very quickly, because the yeast become so active at that temperature. If your dough is rising too quickly it may over-proof, which means it doesn’t have any power left to create oven spring once it is baked. Have you tried doing our refrigerator rise, which we talk about in the tips and techniques? You let the dough rest, after shaping, on a piece of parchment, in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. Then you preheat the oven and stick the loaf in the hot oven, just let the dough sit on the counter while the oven preheats.

I’ve done it, with a large food processor, or a mixer. You need to add the yeast, and some water to “mobilize” it. It does work, but it’s a bit of a pain. After you blend it in, you may need to add a little flour to bring the consistency back where it was.

Well, I was hoping for somewhat an immediate answer but I know how busy you are so if my vermont cheddar bread fails oh well!

I have tried a lot of recipes in your book and yes, they are all high moisture dough. Today I decided o make the vermont cheddar bread and the outcome of it is not as wet like your other recipes. Is that right? Or did I possibly put more flour than needed? Baking with a toddler seems to take my mind away from counting. Thanks

The Vermont cheddar bread should act very similarly to the other doughs. It may not have quite the same stretch because of the cheese, but the dough will feel very similar. If you think that the dough came out way too dry you can always add more water to the bucket, just let it sit for another couple hours to allow the dough to absorb the water.

If you want to try baking the dough as is, you should allow it to rest longer once it is shaped.

I’m going to make your pear tartin. What kind of pan is used? You mention a cast iron skillet earlier in the recipe, but I don’t have that. And I don’t have a tart pan, either. Need to make it for the baking group.

Didn’t see anything in the errors about what kind of pan to use.
Thanks,

You can use any skillet that will be able to go into the oven, doesn’t have to be cast iron. Nothing with a plastic handle. If you use a skillet that is made of a thinner gauge metal be sure to move the pears around as they cook so they won’t burn. Thinner pans tend to have hot spots.

That is a very interesting concept, one I haven’t tried yet. I would just replace a small portion of the water with OJ and see if he prefers it. I would start with about 1/2 cup and see if that does it. I’m not sure how the dough will keep over time with too much acid added to the dough. Please report back and let us know how it goes!

Hi all,
This is unrelated to this post but wasn sure where better to put it. My family and I just relocated to Doha (Qatar, Middle East) and I brought your book with me. I’m so happy I did esp bc its hard to find bread that I really like out here, and I love me some bread. So, anywho, Ive been having some trial and error adapting your recipe to the metric system as well as adjusting water for the flour. The local flour here is 14% protein content. SO, thusfar Ive come up with using almost 1 L of water for each recipe. That sounds crazy as I type it. But I started out with about 800ml, then 900, and today I still had to add some more liquid to get it to the ‘right’ consistency..so yeah, almost 1000ml (1L) of water. I’m guessing part of it is the fact that the protein in the flour is so high. At first, using only 750-800 ml of water I had a dough that made some good bread, but it wasnt stretchy (the dough that is) enough. I could just easil tear off a piece of it. As i increased the water/liquid I started getting what I was used to back in the states. Also, I made the buttermilk bread using laban (kinda runny/drinkable yogurt) and it was excellent!
Thanks so much for the book, and this site, its been a tremendous resource.
Peace

Also..after nearly overflowing my saran-wrapped glass bowls, I finally found a bucket that holds 5200ml that seems to be doing the trick!
One question, do you have any recipes or ideas for adding coconut milk powder to any of your breads? I’m thinking about adding a bit to my next batch of oatmeal or light-whole wheat for a slightly sweet coconuty taste. In case your not familiar with it, coconut milk powder is used alot here and in the Caribbean instead of making, or buying fresh or canned coconut milk. If I try some, I’ll let you guys know how it comes out.

Uh, Jeff? Your wife is right. If you invert the picture, though, it sort of looks like a Christmas stocking for Santa to fill with stuff like Danish dough whisks or yeast packets. (I’ve got a million good ideas – stick with me, Kid.)

Wow – this is fantastic. I love to bake and just started making a few very simple bread recipes. I have been intimidated by yeast and dough rising/handling. But, I am facing my fears and having some success. I just found your book and blog through another blog: Noshings. I am going to be purchasing your book and trying out even more recipes. So exciting! I am also a new Minnesotan and got a kick out of this post!

Hiya – We have recently gotten hooked on your bread! I have the new artisian bread in 5 min a day book. We are getting ready to go on our big annual camping trip and i want to make fresh flat bread while camping. I know from previous years that we won’t have room for an additional cooler, or room in the cooler we do have for stored dough. I’m wondering what the best option will be – just mix it when we get there? does it HAVE to be stored and cooled? or would a batch be okay for a day or two without refrigeration? I plan to just be working with the basic recipe. We have three families coming with us so it’s also possible that we could go through a batch per day. But if not – can we let it sit out? It tends to be hot during the day but cool down at night. Thanks!

Jeff takes his dough camping all the time. I seem to remember him telling me that he stuck the bucket in the stream to keep it cool. That sounds like something Jeff would do, but I can’t be sure it was really his story. 😉 You can use the dough for about 24 hours without refrigerating it, but if it is hot out, I would suggest maybe making two smaller batches and just using them up.